Steel Wing
by Delta Treeflyer
Summary: The infamous warlord Mingol Salt Rocktail and his army have come to take over Redwall and all of Mossflower! Will Redwall be able to stop him or will the forces of evil finally triumph? -Discontinued until further notice
1. Introduction

The cold air was like a drop of ice water.

Mingol Rocktail, known to his enemies as Salt, was a sinewy, thin, and powerful river rat with a ferocious temper and a skilled sword paw. His fur was light gray and chocolate spotted, but what really gave beasts an impression of his attitude were his fierce neon green eyes, without mercy, cold and hard-the eyes of a born killer. His well deserved title of warlord earned him a spot at the top ten of every goodbeast's enemy list. He was ruthless, and commanded his army with a cold vigilance that clearly revealed that his army was pawns on the playing board and he was the king. Even if the rat thought he could trust a beast not from his army, that beast was dead anyway. Salt's bodyguards, which he really didn't need, considered themselves the rat's friends. They were mistaken. Maybe knights on the chess board, nothing more.

The clear stream ran on the border of Salt's camp, where his army, about five hundred well trained fighters and killers, were resting for the night. Five hundred, the rat could admit, wasn't many, but they had all come from violent backgrounds and were a mixture of former assassins, bounty hunters, thieves, robbers, and beasts that just enjoyed killing. Sure, he'd used to have a lot more, but they had all died under his orders after deserting or had died in battle.

Salt's paws dangled into the stream, the ice water granting new energy to his body. He dipped his paws in and rubbed the crystal liquid over his face, splashing some in his eyes to wake him up. He was not sleeping tonight. He was formulating his new plan-to take over Redwall Abbey.

The rat's keen ears caught a noise, and Salt turned around to see his two guards approaching him. They kneeled respectfully as the river rat got up. One of them was a cream colored ferret, big and brawny, carrying a spear; the other a rat like himself with a dagger and cutlass. Salt twitched a claw and the ferret, Ice, and rat, Makoce, rose from their positions, their eyes watchful in case this was a test devised by their leader. But the river rat seemed calm enough.

'Ice, by sunrise I expect you to be gone with a team of three to check out this Redwall. Makoce, when Ice gets back, you and him will get to work on a rough blueprint of the abbey, buildings, walls, sentries, everything. If you don't come back with what I need,' Salt threatened, 'I have no need to tell you what will happen. There's plenty more fish in the sea.'

Makoce shivered, knowing that their river rat leader was entirely ruthless and never made idle threats. He, Makoce, had been the one carrying out punishments sometimes, and he knew what would happen to them. It would be a long death, and all the longer if Salt was the one carrying it out.

'Go.' The river rat finished, watching his two guards run off. They would carry out his orders…because he was Mingol Rocktail.

No one and nobeast could escape him.


	2. Chapter 1: Searching

Ice was ready.

He had finally began the expedition to Redwall at sunrise, right before Mingol had come to make sure he was gone. With him were three of the river rat's best fighters besides him and Makoce; Rivg, a fierce weasel with ice blue eyes and a cutlass, Firetail, another weasel, lanky and thin with a dirk, and Blackfeather, a large blackbird with a pointed beak and sharp talons. Blackfeather flew overhead while Ice traveled at the front of the land group, a snarl on his face, his dark eyes narrowed in concentration. He motioned to the blackbird, which swooped down to land in front of him.

'Do ye see anythin' yet?' Ice pressed.

'Aye. I see a big red building over that way, large it is, with many sentries I am thinking.'

Ice nodded and waved Blackfeather off, surprised that any of the peaceful woodland beasts would even think of sentries. But then, he quickly countered the first thought, many a beast had thought that, even powerful leaders like Cluny the Scourge and Ruggan Bor, and failed miserably, usually killed or horribly injured. They weren't as soft as you'd think.

Ice whispered a warning to Rivg and Firetail. 'Don't get cocky, mates. Those beasts 'ave been in more wars than we'd care ta' count. They've beaten warlords that triumphed over other places an' hordes o' more than one thousand.'

Rivg twirled his cutlass and licked the edge. 'Ah know. Ah've seen dis Redwall in mah loner days. They've kilt mah friends an' I'll 'ave revenge.'

'Not just yet,' Ice warned, holding up a paw. 'You'll be doin' killin' when we actually attack. We're scoutin' now, checkin' the lay o' the land, as ya' might say. When we get back ta' camp, we'll be makin' a blueprint o' Redwall an' findin' the best ways ta' get inter it.'

Firetail gave a nod in agreement. 'That's a good plan.'

Ice had chosen the weasel to accompany him because he was a serious fighter and knew every battle might be his last, but also because he hardly ever spoke, and silence would be key on this mission. And as Redwall came into Ice's view, he knew it would be no easy task taking the big red fortress.

But whatever Mingol Rocktail said went.

Ice's team knew daylight was a dangerous time to scout an enemy and knew this was a test-if they won, they won, if they lost, their lives would be taken either by Redwall or by the group's frighteningly ruthless leader. If they were spotted, their lives were forfeit.

Blackfeather took a landing next to Rivg, and Ice issued commands. 'Blackfeather, you'll be flyin' around, checkin' the places where we can't get ta'. They won't suspect anythin', just think tis' a visitin' bird. Rivg, Firetail, we'll be circlin' this fortress from the woodlands, checkin' der sentries an' the location o' the gates an' walls. Orders given, now let's git ta' work!'

Back at Salt's camp, his army was creating breakfast with an assortment of wild fruits, mushrooms, nuts, and small birds that Bengal, a quick, agile ferret, had felled with a bow and arrows. Campfires burned, crackling and snapping like the jaws of a wolf, the smoky, meaty smell of bird filling the site. And the river rat warlord smelled it.

He strode through the masses of vermin, on the lookout for a careless beast, and he finally found one, a rat fallen asleep by his campfire. Salt pinched the stick that had a bird and a peach on it, slid the roasted fruit off the skewer, and popped it in his mouth. Noting that the bird had been plucked, the rat put the whole bird in between his jaws and crunched down as he strode away, then turned around to see the rat looking around for his skewer. Salt chuckled. Here was a chance to kill somebeast, and the rat was lucky his leader wasn't in the mood. Mingol Rocktail turned around, muttering the words under his breath.

'Life is just a test to see whether you live or die.'

Redwall was a hustle of activity. Friar Torak, a fat old mouse, was preparing breakfast for Redwall; honeyed oatmeal with fruit and sausages, a recipe he had gotten from the time of Rakkety Tam McBurl. As he and his assistant, a young otter named Rag Ruddertail, placed the platters of food in Great Hall, a shout rang out from outside. 'There's a big ol' bird flyin' around the belltower!'

Rag identified the voice as Skipper Roark, the leader of the otters. He sped out of the Hall and ran slap bang into Skip's back. He staggered a few steps, rubbing his head and mumbling an apology. 'Sorry, tripped, won't do it again, promise…'

His voice trailed off as Skipper started twirling a sling and letting a rock fly up to a massive blackbird, circling the belltower. With a squawk, the bird dropped as the stone hit it, but it quickly regained its balance. Rag noticed that it was carrying a thorny stick in its talons that it let go of as it hovered over Rag.

Skipper dove at Rag, knocking him to the side. The thorny branch wrapped around his shoulders, sticking there with help of the small barbs on each thorn, put there by another beast. Skip ground his teeth and looked up. The bird was gone. He called to the sentries on the wall. ''ave ye' seen anybeast in the air or on der land?'

A mouse called back to the otter, 'We've seen a blackbird, but that's all.'

Ice, Firetail, Blackfeather, and Rivg had done their job well.

Author's Note:

I think I messed up on the Redwall section of this chapter-not explaining it well and all, but I was in a hurry to get it done because I had quite the good idea for the next chapter. Keep reading; the chapters'll get longer with every addition. And please R&R!


End file.
